Random pictures from the playground and beyond - Oct. '06

Whooping Cough and Coxsackievirus Infection

We found out on Monday that Sadie has whooping cough. She's had a cough off and on since we brought her home but two weeks ago she started having pretty bad coughing jags a couple times a night. We took Sadie to our pediatrician (Dr. Saken - Soho Pediatrics) last week and he said not to worry about it. He said a lot of kids have a bit of mucus that collects in the back of their throats and makes them cough but we weren't convinced that it was "just one of those things". Our pediatrician said to make us feel better he would give us a referral for a pediatric pulmonary doctor.

As soon as we described Sadie's symptoms to the pulmonary guy he said she's got whooping cough. Apparently its a fairly easy clinical diagnosis which makes me wonder about our pediatrician. The pulmonary guy prescribed an antibiotic but said not to expect it to do much that at this point, the infection would have to run its course - another 4 to 6 weeks. Apparently she should have received the DTP vaccination like most American kids but she didn't and she hasn't received it since she's been home.

I have to wonder about our pediatrician though. The guy has a nice manner with Sadie but to miss or dismiss something as serious as whooping cough is really scary. Sadie is still getting caught up on her vaccinations with him but once she is caught up we are going to find another pediatrician. I think the practice is just too busy to give each kid the attention they deserve. For all we know Sadie may have caught the whooping cough infection there - the waiting room is full of toys and sick kids all rolling around on each other. It seems nuts to me but I guess that's just how a pediatrician office is.

So that was Monday. On Tuesday we get a call from the nursery school saying Sadie has a rash on her hands that is probably coxsackie virus. I left work, raced down to the nursery school and took her to Dr. Saken who was able to squeeze her in for a 3 PM appointment. He confirmed she had coxsackie and said there's nothing we can do except wait it out - seems to be the standard treatment for childhood diseases. Jackie has taken the rest of the week off to stay home with Sadie who can't return to school until the coxsackie clears up.

The thing is, despite her whooping cough and coxsackie Sadie has been in fairly good spirits. Yesterday was tough - she was definitely moody but I think both infections were in full effect so I'm sure she felt like crap. So far no fever and no loss of appetite. (I doubt that kid will ever loose her appetite so that's not a good illness benchmark for her.) Last night was rough, she had a bad coughing jag at midnight and again at 4 AM and was out of the crib by 5 AM. She had a 4 hour nap this afternoon and was in great spirits all afternoon and evening. Those pictures at the top of this post are from her bath tonight - does she look like she has a double dose of infection raging in her little body?

Tonight she went down without a fuss at 8:45 after a big dinner and a bottle. I'm hoping she has a more peaceful night than last night. We gave her Pediacare 8 hour cough suppressant tonight before her bath - fingers crossed that it will work.

Threading the block

Sadie can usually thread the block but not when the cameras are rolling. August 06

Hide the blocks

Sadie likes to play games. 9-29-06

Dinner

Sadie enjoys her food.

Happy Feet

Sadie's got happy feet!

Garden Stroll

Sadie takes a short walk in the grass in Raliegh.

Sadie Swings

Sadie and dad on the swings in a west village playground.

Sadie's Summer

Sadie has come a long way this summer. She can now; feed herself with a spoon and fork, go down the slide by herself, run, push her own stroller and continue to charm everyone she meets.

She's a very very sweet girl with an incredibly giving nature. Her first impulse is to always share what she has wherever she is. She rarely complains and is just a very relaxed kid. We continually remind ourselves how lucky we are.

Starting Nursery School

Last week Sadie started nursery school. Its been a big adjustment for all of us. Her nursery school is only a block away and many of the kids in her class live in our building or buildings near by and we see them on the playgrounds too. We debated the classic childcare question; nanny or nursery school and opted for the nursery school because Sadie will be socializing, get to know the local kids and parents and the cost was better than a nanny.

However now that she's started we're not sure we made the right choice. Sadie does great during the day but its a long day five days a week to be away from us. We've only had her 3 months. Its really painful to drop her off in the morning and see her face crumble when she realizes we're leaving. Today she woke up sniffling so we were torn; who stays home from work? Should she go to school anyway? We ended up taking her to school and telling them she had the sniffles and to keep an eye on her. We called during the day to check in on her and she was fine. But still, if Sadie is sick I'd rather she be at home than in a classroom with 12 other kids who all have their own needs and only 3 care givers.

We'll see how the next couple of weeks go.

June into July. Pictures only.

Dining incognito.






















Sadie likes water - a lot.






















Sadie meets a Polar Bear up close and personal at the Central Park zoo. She cried.






















With Grandma at the zoo.


















Sadie contemplates a move to Jersey City. Nah.






















Gracefully two-stepping across the living room.

An update from the field: Fried Rice, Vomit and Rock and Roll

Sorry for not posting for so long but its been an eventful few weeks as we continue to settle in with Sadie. In the last 4 weeks she has seen all of her early intervention therapists; the speech, physical and occupational therapists and they all give her the thumbs up. It seems Sadie has no major delays and is on track in every way. She has a totally clean bill of health from her pediatrician too.

On one of the last days in China our case worker Ann said to us that Sadie probably had yet to truly reveal herself to us and I still kind of feel that way. Every day she exhibits some new kind of behavior that wasn't present the day before. She's definitely getting more and more comfortable and attached to Jackie and I. We've introduced her to a lot of people over the last few weeks most of whom she really takes to but she always totters over to us to be held for a minute before continuing to play with her new friends.

Like any child she demands a lot of time so the adjustment to our social/work lives has been a bit challenging. Its like a job that never ends - it starts at 6:30 when she wakes up and ends at 8:30 when she goes to bed but its total work and concentration every waking minute. We love it.

Fried Rice
We went to China town last Friday for dinner and ordered Sadie chicken fried rice. When the steaming plate arrived she let out a squeal of joy that was so loud and long that everyone in the crowded restaurant stopped and looked over at us - I'm not exaggerating. Okay, it was a small place but still, she shrieked so loud she silenced a crowd. Albeit small but still, it was only fried rice. She continued to shriek between every fork full. It was the happiest I think I've seen her.

Blowing Chunks
Sadie also had an awesome puke session that frightened us but was generally entertaining and funny to her. We were stuck in traffic on the West Side Highway on our way back from Sleepy Hollow and this happened to be her first car trip. We fed her some nasty jarred baby food on the road out of desperation and by the time we got into town and hit the traffic jam on the west side she was burping in a funny way that didn't seem quite right. It happened to be gay pride day which explained the stop and go traffic on the west side. After the first few lurching lights Sadie started to whine and when I looked back at her she opened her mouth a bit and thick brown liquid started to pour out Linda Blair style. The volume was amazing. She covered herself and what seemed like every inch of the car seat. The scene inside the car became like the scene in the Bonnie and Clyde film with Faye Dunaway after they escape from the ambush and everyone is screaming and hysterical and there's blood everywhere and things are totally out of control. The only difference was we were only moving about 2 miles an hour and it was Sadie's vomit that was splashing around instead of blood. Jackie was gagging and practically climbing out of the window trying to get away from the puking baby. Jackie's sister Beth was in the front seat and volunteered to jump back there and rescue Sadie from her puke covered clothes and get Jackie away from the vomit. We stopped at a light and Beth and Jackie jumped out of the car to switch seats. Beth grabbed a roll of paper towels from the back of the car on the way around and once she freed Sadie from the car seat began the mop up.

Sadie seemed like she had taken a punch to the head and was totally out of it. Beth had stripped off her clothes and she was sitting on Jackie's lap in the front seat of the car in her diaper with her face smeared with brown goo. We continued to inch our way down the west side with all the windows down and with crowds on the side of the road growing more and more colorful as we approached the Village. There were drag queens of every shape and size, most on roller blades it seemed buzzing up and down the bike path along the Hudson. Sadie perked up and was enjoying the show outside when suddenly as we hit Christopher St. and there were hundreds of people swarming across the highway Sadie let out an epic gag and blew chunks like a drunk college coed right into Jackies chest. Another quart or more of vomit spewed out of her. It was incredible. Luckily we had the roll of paper towels at the ready and though we missed the first volley we caught the following blasts in the paper towels. After finishing Sadie laughed the rest of the way home. Finally arriving at the apartment and after unloading everyone the car had the vibe of JFKs limo at Parkland Memorial in Dallas.

J-Pop
It seems Sadie makes friends wherever she goes. Last night there was a concert by Puffy Amiyumi outside our building in the World Financial Center plaza so Sadie and I went down to check it out after her dinner. We were standing way back from the big speakers so her ears wouldn't get blown out but it was still outdoor rock concert loud with booming bass and drums and Sadie was loving it. She was in the baby bjorn thing and she was totally rocking out with her arms over her head and kicking her legs. I was not prodding her at all - she just loves Japanese pop music. Anyway we're standing way in the back of the plaza digging the show when this rock and roll dude comes up to us and he's all excited and he shouts at us "I JUST HAD TO MEET THIS BABY! SHE'S SO CUTE!" Sadie continued to rock and ignored the dude and then then he shouts to Sadie - not to me - "THIS IS TEENAGE WASTELAND IN JAPANESE!!" and he ran off. Sadie watched him go sort of confused but continued to rock out. I don't think she cared what the song was, she digs bass and drums. But now of course I'm going to have to play her the original version of Teenage Wasteland so she knows what it really sounds like.

Its amazing how many stories pile up in a short amount of time. We'll update the blog more regularly.

Sadie's Sick

Sadie has had a fever, cough and cold for the last four days. Our usually goofy girl would lie listless on the floor and moan. She has vomited on us, peed on us and has used us a human snot rag. If that's not love and bonding, than I don't know what is. It was pretty scary when her fever would spike but modern medicine has brought us all some comfort as did our pediatrician and friends. And then I got sick too. I think I'm a day behind Sadie in getting better. In our attempt to divert Sadie from her sickness, we took walks in the neighorhood and introduced her to PBS. Hey, when you sick, there are no rules. She wasn't that interested in the TV but she now knows how to use the remote. She also helped make Greg's first Father's Day card. Her handprint looks very nice. I'm going to keep this entry short. I'm feeling the need to lie on the floor and moan a bit like Sadie.


Sadie's Top Favorite Things To Do So Far
1. Eat cheerios from a cup, the table, the floor, the seat of her stroller, etc.
2. Eat veggie booty.
3. Get up on the couch and fall backwards into the unknown.
4. Take a bath and then roll around on the bed, stretch and giggle. It's extra special if she can hold her diaper ointment tube while doing this.
5. Look at dogs. All sizes and breeds.
6. Watch older kids.
7. Hold a cell phone up to her ear and babble.
8. Play with the remote. She really likes the blue button. I hope she's not ordering movies...
9. Look at her book about babies.
10. Chew on her toes.

Sadie's diaper

We just found out that we have been putting Sadie's diaper on backwards since we met her. Greg and I were sure that Elmo was upfront and center and not relegated to the back of the butt. There was never any question in our mind. All is well now and we thank our buddies up in Sleepy Hollow for setting us straight.

It has been a mere six days that we have had Sadie in NYC and there have been many firsts for her already. She met her first horse courtesy of a nice policeman that patrols our neighborhood, she saw her first butterfly which we met on the path to our apartment building, she had her first experience with sand (doesn't like it) and heard her first rock concert below her bedroom window. The music wasn't that good and I was pissed at the loudness. It was Sadie's bedtime and nobody messes with me on that one unless the music is worthy.

Sadie has explored every inch of the apartment. In all fairness, it didn't take that long. Her favorite things to do are to wiggle her tongue, shake back and forth to music, attempt to feed herself, read her book about babies every day on the hour, lift things that make her parents nervous, walk with help, and pucker her mouth when she eats fruit. She loves the bath and her toes.

She has been poked by neighorhood kids in the playground and has met a sweet little girl of about four who declared upon meeting us that she was "a fairy." She pulled out a compact and lipstick from a Sephora bag to prove it. There must have been some kind of promotion in our neighborhood that day.

The jet lag is getting better, almost feel recovered. Sadie's visit to the doctor went well. She's all clear on her medical tests and even earned a prize for being a good sport when they drew her blood for testing. Greg and I hit the bed soon after Sadie does and it feels good. After a beer.

Jetlagged

We've been home now for 3.5 days and the jetlag is finally starting to wear off. There were moments over the last couple of days where we would just nod off mid-sentence sometimes the thought of having to stand up to walk across the room to pick up a toy or get a bottle or go to the bathroom was contemplated for 20 minutes before anything happened. The spaced out, tripped out feeling is one thing but add to that the constant bending over and picking up Sadie or the up and down of laying on the floor with her in all manner of odd positions playing, chasing, comforting, fetching, etc. and now we're hurting all over. I was in decent shape before the trip but I feel as though I've been in intense training for the last 48 hours. We do constant squats, up and down, so my upper legs and butt are hurting big time. My shoulders and back ache as well. But its a total gas.

We didn't eat much from Thursday to Saturday. I didn't eat anything at all on Friday - it was just too much trouble. Between keeping up with Sadie who's crawling now and jetlagged too so she's irritable as hell and melting down a lot, cooking food for ourselves just hasn't happened. The advice we received before we left to prepare a lot of food that can be frozen and easily heated up was ignored and now we're regretting it big time. We don't have any family close by either so the last few days we've been on our own. I would say if you can have someone help you out for the first few days back - do it.

On Friday Sadie had her first pediatrician visit and she's in great shape. She's right on target for her age in all the various milestones and measurements and ahead in a few too. We're so relieved. She hasn't been sleeping much due to the jetlag but other than that she's fit. We're so lucky. We have to take her back to the pediatrician tomorrow to get the results from her TB test and to hand off the stool samples which will be checked for parasites.

The first 3 nights she woke up at midnight and 3 screaming bloody murder. She had never done this in China so we were totally confused. We got up with her and tried to comfort her but she wasn't having it. We figured out she's teething and dealing with the jetlag. I feel bad for our neighbors but I'm happy she's got such a powerful set of lungs. Sometimes when she screams my ear drums vibrate and hurt. Its awesome. I'm going to record her scream and use it in a song. But still, the neighbors have to be bumming. Too bad. I've listened to their drunken 3 AM parties and the bad music they blast plenty of times and never complained.

Speaking of music, the first song she ever "danced" to appropriately enough was Family Affair by Sly and the Family Stone. I think her favorite Beatle song is Love Me Do.

The blog posts from China

Apparently none of the posts I made in China except the one from Beijing published. They are all published now. Two reasons for this; one, the blog interface was all in Chinese characters on the computers we were using so I was guessing a lot when I clicked on a button or link. If the post appeared in the list of posts then I figured it was live. Two, we couldn't see the actual blog in China due to censorship I guess so we never knew if it was live or not. We would get emails from people saying the blog was great so I figured it was working.

Apologies for the late publishing of the posts but again, they are all there now and are in chronological order.

This photo is of Sadie and I in the Hong Kong airport right after passing through the country exit check. When the Chinese official working the exit check station was going through our documents Sadie was banging herself on the head with a stacking cup and drooling. I'm sure the guy was impressed and happy we were taking this little nut-job back to the States.

The long flight home

Yesterday we flew from Guangzhou to Hong Kong to Newark. The first flight from Guangzhou to Hong Kong left at 8:25 AM and was about an hour. After a brief lay over in HK we took off for Newark. That flight was 15.5 hours. It was hell. We knew it was going to be bad but we had no idea how bad until about 45 minutes after takeoff when the cabin lights were off in all the other parts of the airplane except for the rear cabin where we sat. The flight crew could not get the lights off or turn off the air conditioner in our cabin so it was bright as day the whole time and really cold. Needless to say the babies and parents sitting in this section - including us - were wigging out.

Sadie probably screamed and cried for 10 of the 15.5 hours. She would not sleep and the more tired she got the more wired and cranky she became. We walked her up and down the aisles of the plane to entertain her but she grew bored with that too. We fed her cheerios constantly which mollified her but only so much. She finally conked out about hour 11 for a 2 hour nap. We made a little tent out of the airline blankets to shield her from the light but the noise in the cabin was intense and nonstop. The kid behind us, a boy about 3 was melting down hourly with shrieking screaming. The guy sitting right in front of me coughed constantly every 30 seconds or so. Sadie was laying between Jackie and I - we had 3 seats together on the right side of the plane but with Sadie going nuts between us - constantly throwing herself back and forth between us and with 2 carry-on bags on the floor at our feet it was really uncomfortable and tedious.

To make matters worse, the flight crew were a bunch of bitter old ladies who should have retired a long time ago. One particularly nasty shrew commented loudly to the other shrews that if the passengers didn't like the lights they could put on their sun glasses. She didn't know I was standing in the back next to the galley with Sadie. Another time one of the nasty hags said she was going to turn off the entire flight attendant call system because she was "tired" of people ringing for service. I'll never fly Continental again.

But despite all this at the end of the long flight we were so charged and happy to get off the plane on American soil with our baby. Mission accomplished as the saying goes. Walking through the terminal to immigration and customs with Sadie were the happiest moments of our lives. We did it. We couldn't believe it. We traveled to the other side of the world and came home with a baby and the baby is ours forever. We're a family now. Incredible.


First family photo on American soil.

Last day in Guangzhou

Today we go to the US consulate for the swearing in. This will be the last official piece of business we have to do. We leave the hotel at 6 tomorrow morning. A new group of people arrived last night who are adopting from this province, Guangdong, so they get to spend the bulk of their trip here at the White Swan. Nice. We met a family from this group this morning and we're going to give them our stroller we bought at the walmart in Nanchang. It was 179 RMB which is approx $21.

Yesterday was Sadie's birthday and we had a nice party in the lobby bar overlooking the river. Sadie wore her tiger hat for the whole party. Our agency bought her a nice cake. It was really nice to be able to share her first birthday with all her cousins. The tiger hat is worn by children on their first birthday because it captures all the good luck, long life and happiness gifts raining down from heaven between the ears of the hat. I think Sadie captured a lot of those good vibes yesterday.

At least one of the parents in each family in our group is sick now. There's a nasty sore throat/cold going around. Jackie had it be is getting better. If I had to give one piece of advice to families coming over I'd say bring a lot of medicine for yourselves and the baby. Tylenol, ear drops, antibiotics (don't let anyone tell you not to bring the antibiotics - when you or your baby is sick in the third world you'll be extremely happy you have them). Don't bring a lot of diapers or baby food because you can get all of that here. Don't bring a stroller either.

In Beijing, Nanchang and Guangzhou we had no trouble buying all the western gear we needed from medicine to candy. And most of the people who work in the stores speak english. You should definitely bring a laptop too. The hotel computers mostly suck, are slow, in Chinese and are sticky to the touch. Today I got lucky with this computer - it works well and is in English. Its well worth the extra lugging around you'll have to do and you'll save yourself a lot of RMB and frustration if you bring your own computer.

Tomorrow is going to be rough. I'm dreading the two flights we have to take but its comforting to know there will be many other families returning from China on the flights and they'll all have screaming kids with them. But tomorrow night Sadie sleeps in her own crib in NYC.

Sadie's birthday

We are on our way to a group photo on the infamous red couch at the White Swan hotel and then it's a birthday celebration for our Sadie. She is wearing red shoes, lovely purple Chinese clothes and a clean diaper. She's set. It's hard to believe that we have only had Sadie less than eight days. Simply amazing. She is curious and finds interest in the fluff on the floor to the lights on the elevator. She is teething now and her cold is still with us all.

The heat outside the hotel is intense, like wading through cotton soaked in soup. The hotel is on an island and boats and people pass by thoughout the day. We explore the streets outside the hotel for as long as Sadie and us can take it. With a teething biscuit in hand, she can go far longer than Greg or I.

Our paperwork is in the U.S. Embassy, tomorrow we go to our swearing ceremony where we promise to love and educate our tub of love monkey, Sadie. Then we start the trek home at 6 a.m. on Wednesday. Not even Sadie is awake at that hour.

We are off to party!

Love,
Jackie

arrived in Guangzhou

we arrived in Guangzhou last night in a driving rain and lightening storm. It was a hectic flight and luggage wrestling match before we even got on the bus. It was the usual insane driving on the highway made that much more insane by the raging storm complete with blinding lightening bolts and angry truck drivers. Completely rattled we arrived at the White Swan hotel and were relieved to find a true oasis of western comfort and decadence. The hotel is without question the swankiest of the trip so far. Richard Nixon stayed here many times. There are USA Today papers, Guiness and Hagen Daz. Damn. It almost feels like we're on vacation.

Sadie is 100% better and is no longer coughing or wheezing. She started crawling today. We're amazed and delighted. She's got a giant personality and on the plane charmed the last several rows of Chinese guys. The guys were passing her around and she was loving it. It was kind of nuts actually.

She got her first check up at a Chinese medical facility this morning. It was weird of course because of the language thing and she has a rash on her neck the I was worried might be chicken pox - oh yeah, forgot to mention there was a kid who came from a different orphanage that had chicken pox. AND THEY WERE IN THE ROOM NEXT DOOR TO US FOR 4 DAYS!. We were so pissed off when we found out. There's an MD in our group who was across the hall from the chicken pox kid and he was extremely upset as well. The kid was 'quarantined' as much as possible but we were scared she would be on our flight - thank God she wasn't. However the kid is here now in the White Swan.

Sadie's rash is not chicken pox, just heat rash. Its about 80 degrees and 110% humidity. Intense. I'm sitting in the back of souvenier store using these nice people's computer for free. I spent $42 American on stuff, fyi. I'm soaked with sweat and there's a loud fan blowing down on me. The keyboard is really sticky and all the letters are worn off. There are two girls in the front making beautiful carvings in glass. The shop girl who sold me the stuff and let me use the computer said Sadie is a "spice girl" because she comes from Jiangxi province where the food is spicy.

Anyway, Jackie says she'll write some tomorrow. There is so much to tell, it's hard to get it all out on a borrowed computer.